The last time we saw Terry Collins at Citi Field, he was leading with his heart, not caring who saw, not caring what people said about that. He was going to take Matt Harvey out of Game 5 of the World Series, he’d made his mind up, he delivered the news to Harvey, white hair to Dark Knight.

“I want this game,” was the message Collins read in Harvey’s eyes.

So he allowed his heart to overrule his head, he let Harvey trot back out to the mound for the top of the ninth inning. And for the first time, we realized that Citi Field could really sound the way Shea used to sound, could feel the way Shea used to feel. We know how that ninth inning worked out for Harvey, for Collins, for the Mets, but in a sense that’s beside the point.

We found out a little something about Citi Field that night.

Five months and six days later, Terry Collins reported for work at Citi again, walked into his office next door to the Mets’ clubhouse, clicked on the lights, and got ready to do it all over again. So much quieter now. So much calmer.

That will change Friday, when Opening Day arrives, when the Mets begin the home portion of their schedule, when the people will pour into the yard and greet the new season, when they will raise a flag commemorating the National League championship the Mets earned last year.

For now, Collins enjoyed the quiet. He enjoyed the calm.

“It’s what we do,” Collins said. “We get ready. We get into our routines. I start looking at scouting reports, figure out who needs to pitch, and who’s had success against whom. The details of the game. You’ve got to get into a flow again. Got to get into a routine.”

The Mets had to sit and watch the Royals celebrate for two days in Kansas City this week, a reminder of what they did last October as well as what they didn’t do.

Harvey after being pulled in Game 5.Anthony J. Causi

So much of the color and pageantry surrounding the home opener will be celebratory, but it will be tinged with melancholy, too: an NL Championship banner being raised, not one declaring them world champs. On Thursday, in a private moment before their brief off-day workout, the Mets received their NL Championship rings. Again: a nice moment. Michael Cuddyer came back to get his ring, Zack Wheeler flew up from Florida to get his.

“It’s a second-place ring,” Wright said. “That’s not what anyone wants. You want that first-place ring.”

The journey to flip the flag and upgrade the ring begins here on Friday, on what is certain to be a raw day. There will be highlight videos and fond memories, there will be tributes to 2015 heroes present (Yoenis Cespedes and Jacob deGrom, if his wife doesn’t go into labor) and absent (Daniel Murphy, who continues his early-season raking in Washington).

It will be a good day for the players. It will be a great day for the fans. It hasn’t always been easy to be that, so many losing seasons in between the eras of prosperity. Even in what should be a feel-good time to be a Met, there is a terrible conflict brought about by ownership’s decision to sell off the jersey Mike Piazza wore the night baseball returned to New York in 2001, yet another tone-deaf move by men who just never seem to get it.

But that’s a concern for another day. For this day, Mets fans can look back on a wonderful trip to the stars, one that seemed to fall out of the sky, out of nowhere. And they can look ahead to what promises to be an intriguing six-month journey back to where they so badly want to be.

“Walking around the streets of the city, talking to people, they’re so excited about this season,” Wright said. “They’re so ready to get going.”